Maine State Library 230 State Street

64 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333

Phone: (207) 287-5600 reference.desk@maine.gov

www.maine.gov/msl/

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Maine State Library

Where to Find Free eBooks

Google eBookstore

http://www.books.google. com/ebooks A large collection of eBooks, including some free books. This collection is primarily books to purchase. There are a significant amount of free or low priced books, but also new releases at standard eBook market prices. Scribd

http://www.scribd.com Millions of documents including books, short stories, poems, pamphlets, brochures and government documents. Scribd describes itself as “the largest book club on the planet” with an emphasis on social networking. While texts can be read online at any time, downloading re-quires that you login with a Facebook account.

Search Sites & Indexes

There are a number of sites that index eBooks across the internet. This makes it easier to locate a specific eBook. InkMesh

http://www.inkmesh.com Indexes numerous sites including Smash-Words, Amazon and other book retailers. In addition to searching, it is easy to browse by both broad and narrow subject headings. Results can be limited by different factors, including price.

Maine InfoNet Download Library

Your Library Name, along with other Maine libraries, now offer nearly 2,500 eBooks spanning best-selling Fiction, Non-Fiction, YA and Children’s content as downloadable eBooks. This is in addition to the ever-growing collection of downloadable audiobooks. This collection is called the Maine InfoNet Download Library.

Anyone with a valid Your Library card, a computer, a connection to the internet can access and download books free of charge. This collection of materials is offered through Overdrive, a global digital distribution company. The Library’s website has more information about this free service at www.yourlibrary website address here or call the library at xxx-xxx to learn more.

Free eBooks on the Web

There are many Internet sites springing up to provide free eBook content. This brochure helps you find some of the sites that have been recommended by librarians.

Project Gutenberg www.gutenberg.org Over 33,000 titles including fiction and nonfiction in all genres and categories, as well as multiple languages. Perhaps the best site for older fiction, including out-of-print children’s titles. Multiple formats are available for down-loading of use on nearly all mobile devices.

Smash Words www.smashwords.com/ Over 30,000 titles, mostly self-published, from independent authors and publishers. While not all the titles listed are free, it is very easy to limit browsing to only the free titles. Many Books www.manybooks.net/ Over 29,000 titles, primarily fiction. The collection has some overlap with Project Gutenberg, but includes some unique titles.

Internet Archive www.archive.org/ Over 2.7 million texts, mostly nonfiction. The bulk of the titles have been contributed by academic libraries. This is a good source for historical works. This archive also contains movies, video of music concerts, audiobooks, music, podcasts and the internet Wayback Machine for viewing archived websites.

Forgotten Books www.forgottenbooks.org/ Almost 10,000 titles. Though there is quite a bit of overlap with Project Gutenberg, this site does include some unique titles. Feed Books www.feedbooks.com/ publicdomain Thousands of eBooks. Many are not free, although there is a collection of public do-main items that can be read on all mobile devices. Also includes copies of new re-leases for purchase.